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Drop + Grell OAE1 Signature Headphones

$349

~~$399~~

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Drop + Grell OAE1 Signature Headphones

Name: Drop + Grell OAE1 Signature Headphones
Brand: Drop + Grell
SKU: drop-grell-oae1-signature-headphones
Price: 349 USD
Availability: PreOrder
Rating: 5 (1 reviews)

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Product Description

The ultimate acoustic experience? The natural one: where sound reaches your ears through the open air, from a source right in front of you. It’s not a difficult concept to wrap your head around. In the history of headphone design, however, it’s proven difficult to wrap it around your head. Until now. Meet the Drop + grell OAE1 Signature: a groundbreaking pair of headphones with game-changing driver geometry and an ultra-expansive soundstage.

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Evshrug

3925

Keyboard Club Member

May 9, 2024

This Challenger Takes a New Angle

The grell OAE1 was not what I was expecting. At first, when news that Axel Grell was making an analog, open back wired headphone, I thought it was squarely within his wheelhouse, the perfect move to show what grell is best at. But the show impressions on prototypes started trickling in, and it was a bit confusing because there were multiple different tunings being explored. Then, people started quoting a high-profile reviewer or two who were setting the expectation that the defining characteristic was a treble spike, combined with fears that the more open a headphone is the weaker the bass presence would be. Remembering my past mixed feelings about earspeakers and the very open, also-biocellulose-driver Sony MDR-MA900 and F1, I almost declined to review the grell OAE1 when Drop reached out to me (no compensation or editorial oversight, and as far as I know this is just a loaner). However, my curiosity won out, and my at-home impressions are far better than I was expecting. Build Quality Let’s start describing the headphone with the way most people first interact with a headphone, the presentation and build quality of the OAE1. I’d guess the packaging will be something to encourage recycling, but the semi-circular black case is worth keeping. It would fill a significant portion of a backpack if attempted to carry it that way, but it’s way more transportable than a storage box; the OAE1 earcups fold flat so it isn’t too thick to fit, the case’s smooth design doesn’t have any protrusions, plus there’s a contained space between the headband and earcups area that holds the two included cables (more on that in a bit) and has enough room for me to fit a USB Dongle. The OAE1 design itself is essence of headphones, evoking smooth circular shapes and perhaps a smiley face 😀. Katrin, Axel Grell’s wife and a graphic /product designer by trade, is to thank for the sleek modern design language, and perhaps also influenced the choice to use matte finish rounded aluminum and contrasting black PU leather instead of the wood accents of other brands and the plastics dominating Axel’s past headphones. The silver grilles strongly evoke studio microphones 🎤.

Little but thoughtful design touches abound. Lifting the OAE1 reveals that it’s still very light for a full-size headphone, and the earcup extension mechanism has a generous range and smoothly has infinite adjustment with well-dampened resistance against slipping. No need to worry about elastic bands wearing out here, and my question was answered that the headband and earpads are also clipped on and easily replaceable. I asked about the headband because my balding head was concerned that the smooth arch aesthetics would create a hot spot at the peak of my head, but Axel told me the center point of the headband actually has a lower density foam inside, so even though it doesn’t look like an HD 650 headband it does kind of feel like one, with a more moderate clamping force. The pads themselves are very plush and soft, heat escapes easily from them easily and I was told they’re also quite acoustically open. To wear them, the OAE1 earcups swivel a bit more than 90° without flopping around.

My first con: it was not obvious at first glance to see the tiny L & R legends, which are not bright and printed on the 2.5mm cable plug protection nubs, and I suspect it will be common to see people put the mostly symmetrical looking headphone on backwards. Looking inside the pad cavity though, it’s very easy to see the extremely front-biased drivers even though they’re covered by a black dust-and-hair shield, and the jacks are placed and angled so that the cables will drape easily on the wearer’s shoulders. The OAE1 does come with a thin 3.5mm cable with a nice screw-on 6.5mm adapter and 2.5mm TRRS plugs for each earcup, and also a cloth-braided 4.4mm terminated balanced cable that, very uniquely, has a single 2.5mm TRRS tip that can plug into either earcup, with the connection to the other earcup made via a hidden cable in the headband. These configuration options are great for purists or usage at a desk with the cable routed to one preferred side. Sound Taken on its own merits, the OAE1 is tuned for entertainment rather than analytics, and yet delivers timbre and music insight with the ease you would expect from a master craftsman. The frequency balance has forward but not extreme mid bass and upper mids, with loads of extension into the treble and sub bass range, HiFi level separation and clarity of simultaneously playing instruments. I am not able to hear a treble spike, in fact the treble is just a little "safe" without sounding dark to me, and the upper mids don't irritate the resonance that my ears have. The headphone is able to convincingly reproduce both intimate and expansive soundstage, often in the same song if it’s well-recorded. The elephant in the room is the most radical part of the OAE1 design. Whether labeled as innovation or gimmick, the extreme angle of the drivers does have an impact on the sound and is more extreme than I’ve seen on any headphone previously, unless perhaps putting earspeakers like a RAAL or Mysphere at their most open setting, and even then I think those drivers would be more distant from the ear than the OAE1, and have certainly not been able to produce this level of sub bass. Grell has been very careful NOT to claim his design creates “In-Front Localization (IFL),” but that’s an industry term specifically referring to that sense of a phantom center, like the headphones are able to recreate the center speaker of a surround system. There is a bit of modesty and careful setting of expectations though… the angled drivers DO reflect substantially off the folds of the wearer’s ear shape, folds and cups that are more unique than fingerprints, and makes full use of our body’s physical mechanism for pulling more timbral information out of a performance, but this sense of timbre “realism” does help increase the believability of distance and soundstage (along with careful L/R driver matching), and also makes the OAE1 an excellent candidate for adding Spatial Audio processing, which DOES achieve not just a phantom center but also a full surround experience with the right recording media. Please check the comments on this review for my per-song listening notes, also my experience watching movies and playing video games, to get a better idea how each illuminates an aspect of the OAE1's character:

Gear Testing I tried the OAE1 on a wide variety of amps, DAC/amps, and I do feel the headphone is transparent enough to show how these gear changes affect the sound. Like the listening notes, please check the comments for details. I also have a few notes regarding comparisons to well-known headphones. Who is it cool for? “The customer is always right, in matters of taste.” There will be people who prefer more niché tunings, or require a different form factor such as closed backs or in-ears. This may not be the headphone for treble-heads. I have a relative who can’t stand audio that is “too clear,” without a lot of resonance and slow decay its sensory overload for her. The cost is not free. That said, this might impress people who wished for a less expensive HD 800S with great soundstage and clarity, but wished for more body in the mids and especially bass for a less airy and more grounded emotional weight. Anyone who has wished for an HD 650 that has a bit more sparkle in the highs, deeper sub bass reproduction, and less head clamp. The HD 6XX has sold over 190,000 units exclusively on Drop as of the time of this review, and the HD 650 before it has sold an unknowable hundreds of thousands more, so I think it’s a safe bet to say the majority of people will find something to like here.

Why? What makes it cool? The OAE1 is the make-it-or-break-it point for grell audio, so Axel is using everything he has learned in his approximately 30 years of industry experience PLUS his best tradition-breaking ideas that he couldn’t try while working for someone else, to pull out all the stops and make a headphone squarely in his wheelhouse. I love the design touches added by his wife, and no doubt literally the entire Grell family influenced the design. Comparisons will inevitably be made to Axel’s previous designs such as the HD 800 and the venerable classic HD 650, but if anyone could surpass the HD 650 it would be the man who originally created it. To put it in other words, this is Axel’s ideal headphone for the masses. The marathon comfort both physical and audible, impressively solid sub bass, pinpoint soundstage imaging, and last but not least energetic and lively timbre are all points from my wishlist - for me it’s like grell audio checked off every single one. How often do you get a headphone with both a WOW factor and you don’t get tired of using it?

(Edited)

Recommends this product? Yes

Was this helpful?

May 16, 2024

Comes with a Pentaconn 4.4mm balanced cable! I saw Axel say he’s looking for an XLR-4 cable to sell later. Pentaconn is my favorite though, I can use it on the go (stronger than 2.5mm balanced like A&K players) or with desktop amps, and then I have adapters for it to XLR4 and 3.5mm single/ended.

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